She sang “You Are Not Alone” at Junior Eurovision 2020. Yet the sight of Georgia’s Sandra Gadelia all alone in the green room left fans equal parts confused and concerned, especially since most of the other acts were accompanied by cheering supporters.
Now, Georgia’s GPB has confirmed via Facebook that this was not how they had originally planned for Sandra to spend the evening.
Junior Eurovision 2020: Georgia’s GPB explains why Sandra Gadelia was alone in the green room
Viewers first became aware of Sandra’s lonely green room set up about midway into the show. During an interview with Malta’s Chanel Monseigneur, the feed mistakenly cut to Tiblisi rather than Valetta. Caught unawares, a forlorn-looking Sandra sat by a small table with her national flag in hand.
Juxtaposed against the happy, clapping groups in other green rooms across Europe, the image of Sandra on her own pulled at viewers’ heartstrings. Thankfully, Sandra didn’t appear to be too down. She became suitably excited during the voting, jumping with delight upon receiving top marks from both the Spanish and Ukrainian juries.
The next morning, GPB cleared up any misunderstanding. Writing on Facebook, the national broadcaster explained that the original intention was for Sandra to be joined by her backing dancers. However, Sandra had to go into self-isolation due to being a close contact to someone who had tested positive for COVID-19. As a result, these plans had to be dropped.
The TV network added that it didn’t want to spread this information before the show, saying that health is first and then competition. It concluded by saying, “We think this little girl has done everything to show the best in the country”.
During the voting sequence, it also became apparent that Russia’s Sofia Feskova was alone in her respective green room too. The Russian delegation has not yet commented on the matter at the time of writing.
მეგობრებო, მადლობა ყველას გულშემატკივრობისთვის!
არ გვინდოდა, ამ ინფორმაციის გავრცელება შოუს დაწყებამდე, სამწუხაროდ,…
Posted by Eurovision Georgia on Sunday, November 29, 2020
Junior Eurovision 2021: A remote contest
Of course, due to the ongoing pandemic, most of Junior Eurovision 2020 took place remotely. The recordings of all 12 performances were finalised by early November, hence why it was possible for Sandra to be joined by her dancers on stage — the recording took place before she had to isolate.
All 12 delegations gathered in green room in their home countries with live feeds linking them all to the main event in Warsaw’s TVP studios.
What did you think of Sandra’s performance? Were you happy with her sixth place result? Let us know below.
She had deserved top 3 imo. I voted for her after I saw her live performance. Vocally her and Kazakhstan’s performances were the best ones. And the way her flower outfit matched with her hair, just fabulous!
On the plus side, Sandra dealt with the situation very very well. I think she might be a potential winner one day.
I do think the song should have been released early , it was actually so well performed. She should have gotten more points from the Jury!!!!
I voted for Kazakhstan , Spain and France before the show and Georgia , Kazakhstan and France during the show.
Let the 10 year old be alone in the room. Why, is she ill? No but she COULD be. Ah, ok, then I have nothing against this whatsoever…
Georgia needs to rethink its selection procedure. Ranina took too long, even with time-wasting episodes like making the children sing medieval Georgian chant in costume (!). Sandra therefore entered the race almost at the last minute and could not build up the same traction for her song with online voters, or mobilise her potentially-credible Georgian online vote which carried victory in 2016 – even for one of JESC’s most-boring songs. That she did as well as she did, especially with the juries, is a great evaluation which she should value properly. Yes, the juxtaposition of Sandra singing “You Are Not… Read more »
Everything correct here. Releasing your song so long after everyone else when we’re allowed to vote for multiple songs before the performances doesn’t make sense. By the time Georgia came out, I was already attached to my top three and even though I liked Georgia, it would’ve taken something special for me to vote for it.
If I recall it correctly, Ranina was supposed to start airing early last spring, as was the case before for its previous two seasons. This year’s episodes have been taped ahead of time so Sandra was already selected before the final episode was even dropped.
Hopefully, someone from Georgia can confirm if this was the case.
Haha. I did point this out. They are right though. She did look happy most of the time.
Actually, the worst one was that shot of Sofia alone in the green room after it was clear that Russia were not doing well. They must’ve shown it for about 10 seconds or something.
I voted for Georgia several times (also Kazakhstan, Malta, and Ukraine).
Can’t believe she’s only 10 years old. I mean, her vocals sounded so strong, mature, and deep.
I’m still going to continue streaming her song even after the contest.
She was amazing and I still can’t believe she’s just 10 years old! I voted for her, Kazakhstan and The Netherlands.
I voted for her 🙂
She was fantastic! Powerful voice, full of control over her vocals, great performance, strong song, what do you need more?
I hope she’s well and will be found out negative to Covid
Stay safe everyone!
i also did. I dont know why the russian girl was all alone. Its maybe the biggest night in her life. .Why be all alone then? dont get it
Why can’t her family have been with her though?
I’m not saying they are lying or anything but how come the day before in the Press Conference she had a lady sitting next to her? Did the contact come after the press conference? Just curious that’s all.
Both Aram MP3 (Armenia ESC 2014) and Sandra Gadelia share something in common. Their songs talk about not being alone, but then they were alone, either on stage or in the green room.
she wasn’t alone on the stage!
That’s what either means Leo, one case or the other. -.-
I feel sorry for her. She must have felt so awkward and uncomfortable. I wish her all the best! She slayed the stage and should feel proud of it!